KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 25 — The ringgit is expected to trade in a tight range of between 4.05 and 4.08 against the US dollar next week, dealers said.

FXTM market analyst Han Tan said the ringgit is expected to adhere to the regional trend as Asian currencies weakened against the greenback for the week on concerns over the coronavirus outbreak.

"As long as global health authorities can show that the virus’s spread is being contained, risk sentiment is expected to hold up and support Asian assets,” he said.

On another note, he said Malaysia’s light economic data calendar in the holiday-shortened week ahead would also leave the ringgit even more exposed to the influence of extraneous factors.

Meanwhile, Bank Islam chief economist Dr Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid told Bernama the ringgit was mostly well supported against the US dollar for the week despite the surprise Overnight Policy Rate cut by Bank Negara Malaysia on Wednesday.

"The reduction is definitely a positive move for the economy,” he said.

Nonetheless, he added, the risk-off mode seemed prevailing with market sentiment remaining cautious on fears that the spread of coronavirus could rise further during the Chinese New Year holiday.

For the week just ended, the ringgit ended lower against the US dollar at 4.0590/0650 compared with last Friday’s 4.0520/0560.

Meanwhile, the local currency was traded mixed against other major currencies.

It was higher against the Singapore dollar at 3.0024/0080 compared with 3.0108/0149 last week, and strengthened against the euro to 4.4787/4869 from 4.5083/5139 last week.

The local unit depreciated against the Japanese yen to 3.7038/7103 from 3.6776/6816 last Friday, and fell versus the British pound to 5.3140/3235 from 5.2895/2963. — Bernama